Staying ahead of the disruption curve

Career drilldown: Sonya Crosby shares top tips for thriving in the data-driven economy

Be curious, problem solve - ask questions.

“You don’t need to be a coder to understand a person and their behaviour, and how it will impact your business.”

Align data thinking more tightly with business goals.

“Focus it so that if you’re working to optimise or grow specific parts of your business, the data is working in support of this.”

Don’t present data!

“Keep it really simple, tell the story and bring it to life. This is really about people, impacts and opportunities.”

Ask more questions of the data.

“Make it work harder and more dynamically for the business. If data is held in a static way within one department, then it is very hard to use.”

Think about who needs what and how useful information can be in different ways across the business.

“Start sending it [the data] out there.”

Run current and future based scenarios to discover new nuggets - or even the odd unicorn!

Be flexible in your thinking and how you apply data.

“There are many ways to look at and use data well beyond financials and marketing. These could be around driving new product development, dynamic management of health and safety reporting, and improving utilisation of different spaces.”

Think outside the business.

“Consider external sources to create a more holistic view of the customer and the market.”

Sonya Crosby of SkyCity @ the 1st CMO and CIO New Zealand roundtable discussion on shifting digital from enablement to whole of business strategy.

Sonya Crosby, chief innovation officer at SkyCity, will deliver the keynote address on ‘Enhancing the customer journey via the rise of machine learning and advanced analytics’ at the inaugural Chief Data & Analytics Officer New Zealand conference on November 28 and 29 at the Hilton in Auckland.

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